Coin-controlled vending-machine.



v PATENTED JULY 19, 1904 VW. B. BARTRAM.

GOIN CONTROLLED VENDING MACHINE.

APPLIGATION HLEDJAN. 25. 1904.

No MODEL. v

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Q31 1 l IIIII llllll IIIIH' l Ill l BY 5" mom@ i' l UNITED STATESIatented July 19, 1,904.

PATENT OFFICE.

WALKER B. RARTRAM, oF REDDING, CONNECTICUT, AssIeNoR oF TWC- THIRDs ToCHARLES H. ELMoRE AND FRANK o. RADGER, oF wALLINe- FORD, CONNECTICUT.

COIN-CONTROLLED VENDlNG-NIACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 765,649, dated July 19,1904.

Application led January 25, 1904. Serial No. 190,594. (No model.)

To l/ZZ lull/0771, t puny con/cern:

Be it known that I, WALKER B. BAR'IRAM, a citizen of the United States,residing at Redding, in thc county of Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in CoinControlled Vending-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following' tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

My invention relates to coin controlled vending-niachines,and has forits object to provide a simple, efcient, and economical machine of thisdescription; and with these ends in view my invention consists incertain details of construction and combination of parts, such as willbe hereinafter fully set forth and then specilically designated by theclaims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application,Figure 1 is a perspective illustrating my improvement as it appears incondition for use; Fig. 2, a plan View with the top cover removed; Fig.3, a plan of the interior of my'machine with the rotary disk removed;Fig. 4, a section at the line fr; a: of Fig. 3, showing the parts intheir normal condition; and Fig. 5 is likewise a section at the line m mof Fig. 3, but showing the position which the parts assume immediatelyafter a coin has been placed within the Inachine.

Similar numbers of reference denote like parts in the several figures ofthe drawings.

1 is a casing within which is supported an inclined runway 2.

3 is a supportingledge around the interior of the casing and at the topthereof, and 4 is a cross-bar extending' from side to side of the casingat the top and provided at its middle with a small stud 5.

Pivoted near the lower end of the runway is a tilting lever 6, whoselower extremity is bent upward in the form of a tongue 7 for the purposepresently to be explained. Carried by the lower end of this lever beyondthe pivotal point thereof is a pocket 8, the floor of which issubstantially a continuation of the iioor of the runway and which isprovided with sides, but is open at each end, and immediately beyondthis pocket is a housing 9,

which is immediately over and communicates with the coin-receptacle 10.The pocket 8 extends within this housing, and the normal distancebetween the roof 11 of the latter and the floor of the pocket is lessthan the diameter of the coin to be used as an operating factor in mymachine.

12 is a rotatable disk which is centered by means of the stud 5 andwhich is supported upon the ledge 3 and cross-bar 4. This disk isprovided at its periphery with slots 13, that are radially disposed, andrising along one edge of each slot is a fin 14.

15 is a rock-shaft journaled in vertical position inside the casing andcarrying at its lower extremity a linger 16, which normally extendsbeneath the bottom of the lower end of the lever 6, (owing to the actionof a coilspring a, whose extremities are connected, respectively, tosaid finger and to a pin b near the bottom of the casing,) but at ashort distance therefrom, while the upper end of said rock-shaft carriesa trip 17, which slightly overlaps the upper surface of the disk, so asto be within the field of travel of the fins 14 when said disk isrevolved. The upper extremity of the tongue 7 in normal position iselevated and extends within one of the slots 13, so as to lock the diskas against rotation. As the disk is rotated step by step these slotswill register with the upper end of the coinrunway 2, so that the coinmay be inserted through said slots into said runway.

The operation of my improvement is as follows: The packages or articlesto be vended are placed upon the disk near the outer edge thereof andbetween the slots, as is illustrated at 18 in Fig. 2, and a standardcoin, such as a nickel, is the value of each of such packages. When anickel has been inserted through one of the slots into the runway, itwill roll down the latter into the pocket 8, and the weight of thenickel will cause the lever 6 to tilt until the floor of the pocketrests upon the finger 16, the distance between said fioor and the roofl1 at this time being still less than the diameter of the nickel, sothat the latter will not yet drop into the coinreceptacle 10. Thistilting of the lever by means of a coin will cause the tongue 7 to belowered and withdrawn from the slot, the position of the various partsat this time being shown at Fig. 5, the nickel beingI illustrated indotted lines. The operator now turns the disk by placing his thumb orfinger against one of the fins le, which is exposed through the opening19 in the cover,'and as the disk is turned one of these fins near theopposite side of the disk will strike against the trip 17, therebythrowing thesame to one side and effecting the withdrawal of the finger16 from beneath the floor of the pocket 8, whereupon the lever 6 willtilt still farther, so that the distance between the fioor of the pocketand the roof 11 will be greater than the diameter of the nickel, and thelatter will then roll into the coin-receptacle, while the pocket beingrelieved of the weight of the nickel the lever will be restored tonormal position.

The spaces near the edge of the disk between the slots are filledsuccessively with the vendible packages or articles with the exceptionof the last space, which is closed completely by a removable cover 20,so that when the packages have all been vended there can appear no slotwithin which to drop a nickel. Of course this same result may be broughtabout by entirely omitting' .one of the slots; but I prefer to utilizethe means shown, since I am enabled to withdraw the cover and to placeit in any desired space between the fins, and thereby start the vendingat any convenient location.

I can omit the sides of the housing 9, if desired, since all that Irequire is a ledge or roof to cooperate with the ioor of the pocket inthe manner above set forth.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a coin-controlled vending-machine, the combination of aproperly-supported rotatable disk having radially-disposed slots in itsperiphery and fins rising from one edge of each of said slots, aninclined coin-runway with whose upper end said slots communicate, atilting lever whose innerend is bent upwardly and extends normallywithin one of said slots, a pocket carried by the inner end of saidlever at the lower extremity of said runway, a stop immediately belowthe lower end of said pocket which cooperates with the floor of thelatter to normally prevent the coin from passing within its finalreceptacle, and the vertical rock-shaft carrying at its lower extremitya finger which normally extends beneath the floor of the pocket andprovided at its upper extremity with a trip which overlaps said disk andis within the field of said fins, substantially as set forth.

2. In a coin-controlled vending-machine, the combination of the inclinedcoin-runway, the depressible pocket at the lower end of said runway, thestop which cooperates with said pocket to normally prevent the releaseof the coin, the rotatable disk having at its peripheryradially-disposed slots capable of registering successively with theupper end of said runway, means operating in harmony with said pocketfor normally locking said disk against rotation, a finger at a shortdistance below said pocket and operating as a stop to prevent the finaldepression of said pocket, and means operated by the rotation of saiddisk for withdrawing said supporting-finger whereby said pocket will befinally depressed by the weight of the coin, substantially as set forth.

3. In acoin-controlled vending-machine,tl1e combination of the rotatabledisk having in its periphery radially-disposed slots, the inclinedcoin-runway with which said slots communicate, the depressible pocket atthe lower end of said runway, a roof cooperating with said pocket tonormally prevent` the release of the coin from the latter, meanscontrolled by the elevation and depression of said pocket for lockingand releasing said disk, a finger for normally preventing the finaldepression of said pocket, and means controlled by the rotation of saiddisk for withdrawing said finger, whereby said pocket will be finallydepressed by the weight of the coin and the latter permitted to passinto a suitable receptacle, substantially as set forth.

4. In a coin-controlled vending-machine,the combination of the rotatabledisk provided at its periphery with slots, the inclined coinrunwaywithwhich said slots communicate, the normally'clevated and depressiblepocket at the lower end of said runway, the roof which cooperates withsaid pocket to prevent the release of the coin until the finaldepression of said pocket, the tongue rigid with said pocket andnormally elevated within said slots to lock said disk as againstrotation, a stop normally extending' slightly below said pocket forpreventing the final depression of the latter, and means operated by therotation of said disk for withdrawing said stop and thereby permittingthe final depression of said pocket, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WALKER B. BARTRAM.

fitnessest JOHN A. MARTIN, CLIFTON D. ALLEN.

loo'

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